Description:
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In the contest for Achilles’ arms in Metamorphoses 13, Ulysses exploits the significance of a warrior’s wounds. Responding to Ajax’s criticism that his shield has no spear marks, Ulysses boasts of his chest wounds but simultaneously casts doubt on their existence by playing on the meaning of the word pectora . Ulysses furthermore calls the significance of battle wounds into question by offering opposing positions, including his claim that Hector emerged from his contest with Ajax unscathed. Through conflicts with Iliad 7 and Odyssey 11, Ovid has Ulysses as well as the poet himself undermine traditional heroic values.
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